Russian forces shell Kherson during flood evacuation: Kyiv

KYIV (Reuters) - At least three people were wounded in Russian shelling of the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday as people were being evacuated because of flooding caused by the collapse of the nearby Kakhovka dam, police said.

"The shelling began precisely during the evacuation of citizens whose homes were flooded," Ukraine's Interior Ministry said in a statement.

It reiterated accusations that Russia has abandoned people in territory it has occupied in the Kherson region, adding: "And it continues to prevent Ukraine from saving the most valuable - human lives."

A Reuters reporter in Kherson said he could hear what appeared to be artillery fire but was unable immediately to provide any details of the circumstances.

Kherson lies on the Dnipro, about 60 km (37 miles) downstream from the Kakhovka dam.

Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin said earlier on Thursday that 68% of the flooded territory in the Kherson region was on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River.

Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of shelling rescue workers in Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region, and each side blames the other for the destruction of the Kahkovka Hydroelectric Station and dam on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Max Hunder in Kherson, Editing by Timothy Heritage)